Honoring a Legacy

As part of the Into the Future campaign, the David L. Faigman Professor of Public Law endowment will celebrate a storied career and support continued faculty excellence.

For nearly four decades, Chancellor & Dean David Faigman has helped shape UC Law SF — as a scholar, teacher, and for the last decade an institutional leader. He has spent his entire professional career here, and throughout his time has strengthened the College’s academic reputation, expanded its impact, and prepared it for the future.

To honor that legacy, UC Law SF is establishing the David L. Faigman Professor of Public Law, a $10 million endowed professorship. A key component of the Into the Future campaign’s Faculty Excellence pillar, the endowed fund will support the recruitment and retention of extraordinary scholars in perpetuity.

Faigman’s impact on the College has been profound. As a teacher and scholar, he has educated and mentored generations of students while making influential contributions to the fields of constitutional law and evidence, especially the role of science and technology in the courts.

As chancellor & dean, he has overseen innovations that have dramatically improved first-time bar passage rates and employment outcomes for students (86% and 96%, respectively, in 2025), deepened the school’s commitment to clinical education, expanded degree programs, and led the creation of the Academic Village, transforming the campus and expanding opportunities for learning, collaboration, and community.

“Over decades as a scholar, institution builder, and chancellor and dean, David Faigman has helped position UC Law SF at the intersection of law, science, and public policy,” said Provost & Academic Dean Morris Ratner. “This professorship will enable the College to recruit and retain faculty who build on that foundation, expanding interdisciplinary teaching and research across the curriculum. Bearing his name, the position will carry significant prestige, reinforcing UC Law SF’s leadership in these critical fields.”

The David L. Faigman Professor of Public Law will help ensure that future faculty continue advancing scholarship, teaching, and public engagement in fields central to UC Law SF’s mission.

“As a student of history and as a constitutional law professor, one learns that history is ever changeable,” Faigman said. “What I hope is that we will always be at the vanguard of solving the issues of the day with an eye on tomorrow.”